The battle between DirecTV and Disney is heating up

DirecTV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission late Saturday, accusing Disney of negotiating in bad faith.

Disney Channels, including ESPN and ABC-owned stations in nine markets, were pulled from DirecTV as of the evening of September 1. That meant DirecTV customers could no longer watch most college football games and the final week of the US Open tennis tournament. including the women’s and men’s finals.

DirecTV has 11.3 million subscribers, according to Leichtman Research Group, making it the nation’s third-largest pay TV provider.

ABC and ESPN will have the “Monday Night Football” opener between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers. ABC will also produce and carry a presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

ABC-owned stations in Los Angeles; the San Francisco Bay Area; Fresno, California; New york; Chicago; Philadelphia; Houston; and Raleigh, North Carolina are off DirecTV.

In addition to all ESPN network channels and ABC-owned stations, Disney-branded channels Freeform, FX and National Geographic are blacked out.

DirecTV says in its 10-page complaint that Disney is violating the FCC’s good faith mandates, requiring it to waive any legal claims regarding any anticompetitive actions, including ongoing packaging and minimum penetration requirements.

DirecTV asked Disney for the option to offer consumers cheaper and weaker programming packages instead of larger packages that carry programs some viewers might not be interested in watching.

The complaint states, “Along with these anticompetitive demands, Disney also insisted that DirecTV agree to a “clean pocket” provision and a non-sue agreement, both of which were intended to prevent DirecTV from taking legal action on Disney’s antitrust claims, which would include filing good faith complaints with the Commission. However, not three months ago, the Media Office stated that such a request itself constitutes bad faith.”

DirecTV CEO Ray Carpenter said during a conference call with business analysts and the media on Tuesday that they would not agree to a new carriage deal with Disney without including changes.

“We’re not playing a short-term game,” Carpenter said. “We need something that works for the long-term sustainability of our video customers. The decision is there.”

Disney has maintained since the injunction that mutual releases of claims are standard practice after licensing agreements are negotiated and agreed to by the parties. It also had one with DirecTV during its previous renewals.

A Disney spokesperson said: “We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible. We urge DirecTV to stop creating diversions and instead prioritize their customers by completing a deal that allows subscribers to watch our lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of Monday Night Football.”

Last year, Disney and Charter Spectrum — the nation’s second-largest cable provider — were locked in a nearly 12-day standoff until they reached an agreement hours before the NFL’s first game of the season since Monday evening.

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